LA GRANGE — This time last season North Lenoir’s boys basketball team was still searching for its first win.

A year later, the Hawks have a seat atop the Eastern Carolina 3A Conference.

Jauquaz Jones scored 15 points and Reggie Rouse added 11 off the bench as the Hawks pulled away from Southern Wayne late for a 61-54 win on Friday to stay tied for first place with Erwin Triton in the league.

Braxton Davis added 10 points and eight rebounds as the Hawks (8-7, 3-0) overcame a poor-shooting first half to drain five 3-pointers in the third period

They also carried a solid defensive effort over from the first half to the second to win their second straight game after dropping four in a row.

“We just want to do everything one game at a time. I knew Southern Wayne (would put up a fight),” North Lenoir coach Anthony Loftin said.

“I knew we’d be up for the challenge.”

In the second period alone, the Hawks and Saints (8-5, 2-2) combined to shoot 5-for-32 from the field — 2-for-16 by North Lenoir.

The Hawks made up for their shooting woes by hitting back-to-back 3s to open the second half, which cut a seven-point Southern Wayne lead down to one, and hit 9 of 12 from the field in the third quarter to hold a 41-38 advantage heading into the fourth.

The game’s last tie came with 48 seconds to play in the third quarter. From there, North Lenoir used a 10-0 run that extended into the final period — on 3s by Jones and Rouse and a putback by John Carlton — to go ahead for good.

The Hawks hit nine 3s in the contest — six in the second half.

“The shooting is confidence. I encourage them to shoot and to shoot with confidence,” Loftin said.

The Hawks committed far more turnovers than the Saints — 29 to 22 — but it was North Lenoir’s ball pressure that caused Southern Wayne to miss most of its shots.

The Saints shot 33 percent (20 for 61) while North Lenoir heated up in the second half to finish with 20 made field goals on 53 attempts — a raise of 17 percentage points (6 for 29 for 20.7 percent) after the first half.

“I’ve got to give my kids credit. I told them that we played very good defense, only giving up 22 points. But the problem was we couldn’t score,” Loftin said.

“I thought overall the guys stepped up and did a good job and made some shots.”

The win kept North Lenoir in a tie with Triton, which was idle Friday, in the loss column.

SOUTHERN WAYNE 57, NORTH LENOIR 54

Zaria Atkins scored 25 points and the Saints held off a late Hawks rally for the win.

Southern Wayne (8-6, 2-2) led 45-36 after three quarters, but North Lenoir (2-13, 0-3) rallied back to make it interesting.